What can I say, we're getting ready to start back to school next week!
It's the year of quarantine, the year of COVID-19, and all kinds of craziness in schedules and life for everyone. .. and for us, it's the year of our last, first day of school with Krypto at home!
It's true, this year Krypto will be a senior in high school...the 12th grade, the last year I'll be his primary teacher and care giver. It's emotional and hard and exciting and fun and scary all at the same time.
We have another big announcement to make - this year, all three of the kids will be in high school.
You read that correctly. After much thought, prayer, and consideration, along with talking to some specialists, we're going to do a hybrid 8th/9th grade year for Sissi and she'll be graduating from high school a year early.
The past two years she has been bored in school and quite honestly, she's been keeping pace with the boys in language study, she took Health last year (a high school level course), and most importantly, she's been engaged and involved in our Tapestry of Grace History and Literature discussions with older brothers who are doing the Rhetoric level work. She is ready, she's asking for it, and she is super interested in pursuing college and the rest of her life. This way, she gets there one year faster and they will ALL be in college one year together as well. It's another "hard and exciting and fun and scary all at the same time" part of my life! I'm super excited for her but also sad I'll be losing her a year earlier than we had originally thought.
We're calling this year a hybrid year because other than math, she is on target for all 9th grade courses. SO, she began her math book (Algebra, normally an 8th grade course in our house) a month ago and has been working 6 days or more a week to get ahead. She will be taking Algebra AND Geometry this school year. If she follows this plan, she'll finish with Algebra in February sometime and then will start Geometry and work through next summer to finish it up; this will put her on target to take Algebra II as a 10th grader, Pre-Calculus as an 11th grader, and Calculus as a 12th grader. Please pray for her to keep up her enthusiasm and excitement once we add in all the other high school level classes this year. We have discussed, that should she not complete the required work, or fall behind, then this year will revert to an 8th grade year and she will be a 9th grader again next year. She's onboard and knows the ramifications and assures us she is up to the challenge.
Without further ado...here is our 2020-2021 Falconshire Classical Academy plan...with a few explanations along the way.
Our 12th grader, Krypto
Class of 2021
He'll be studying Tapestry of Grace, Year 3 (19th Century), History, Literature, Geography, Worldview, Philosophy, Government, and Art History
He'll also be taking AP U.S. History with The Potter's School as he's decided he wants to major in History and minor in Creative Writing. We want him to have an opportunity to have another History teacher (other than Indy and I) and to earn college credit so that he can spend more time on the upper division courses in college that he is so excited about taking.
Math-U-See Calculus
Math-U-See Stewardship
Apologia Advanced Biology Anatomy and Physiology with the Virtual Homeschool Group
Constitutional Literacy from HSLDA
Analytical Grammar weekly reviews
Russian review and Visual Latin II
He's also working on writing his fourth novel, editing his third for publication this year around Christmas, and this summer he published his second book, "The Sword of Thunder", on Amazon.
He took his SAT last December and scored a 1440, so we're thankful that is high enough that he doesn't need to retake it.
He's already been accepted at Liberty University and has an outstanding application at Taylor University that we should hear about any day. There are a few other schools he is looking at and we have a pending application in with AFROTC. The big push this year is scholarship applications.
Our 10th grader, Gwangi
Class of 2023
He's also studying Tapestry of Grace, Year 3 (19th Century), History, Literature, Geography, Worldview, Philosophy, Government, and Art History
Math-U-See Algebra II
Apologia Chemistry, 2nd edition, with the Virtual Homeschool Group
Constitutional Literacy from HSLDA
Analytical Grammar weekly reviews and Wordly Wise daily
Russian review
The Potter's School - Java Computer Programming
PSAT prep with Khan Academy and taking the test this year (should we find a testing site that is open?) - last year he got an 1140 on the PSAT 8/9 which was a full 90 points higher than Krypto had scored on his 8/9 exam as a 9th grader. We're so proud of these kiddos and all their hard work!
Our 8th/9th grader, Sissi
Class of 2024 or 2025
She'll also be studying Tapestry of Grace, Year 3 (19th Century), History, Literature, Geography, Worldview, Philosophy, Government, and Art History
Math-U-See Algebra
Math-U-See Geometry
Apologia Biology, 2nd edition, with the Virtual Homeschool Group
Constitutional Literacy from HSLDA
Analytical Grammar completed in a year and Wordly Wise daily
Russian review and Visual Latin II
PSAT prep with Khan Academy and taking the test this year, maybe?
Guitar...we'll have to find someone to give lessons when we get back to the US, but she has been enjoying playing and taking lessons with a friend since May of this year.
That about sums it up. What are you up to this year, anything fun or new to share?
I'll post again in a week or two once we start the school year and have all of our official "Back to School" pictures for posting. Until then, enjoy the rest of your summer!
